The Opposition is seeking answers today from government on the contract related to Dr. Des Whalen, hired as an advisor in the Premier’s Office, but paid through MCP.
The Liberals call the hiring of Dr. Whalen as a political staffer at $275,000 a year and billing MCP for those services “wrong” and revealed ATIPP information showing that Whalen worked on files outside of the health care realm.
The Premier, nor the Energy Minister would respond to specifics raised by Opposition Leader John Hogan during Question Period.
Hogan claimed to have documents showing that the staffer in question was in meetings with the premier and the Ambassador to Portugal.
“I ask the Premier to tell Newfoundlanders and Labradorians why MCP is paying to give advice on meetings with the Ambassador? Was the Ambassador sick?”
In response, the Premier indicated that government “has the opportunity here to try and make health care better. We know where health care is in our province right now. As I spoke to earlier, we have the worst health outcomes in the entire country. That’s what ten years of Liberal government does to our health care system.”
In a scrum with reporters after Question Period, Premier Wakeham indicated that Dr. Whalen was an unpaid part of the new government’s transition team.
Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Barry Petten
Meanwhile, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Barry Pettten came out swinging, claiming that the previous government had a special advisor working in his department who was paid through health.
Minister Petten says when he arrived in the department he noticed the man there and asked “who is this gentleman?” and was told ‘”he’s a special advisor to the premier’. I said ‘are we paying for him?’ ‘No, he’s being paid from health.’ So I say to the leader of the Opposition, ‘practice what you preach.'”
